A/N Now no one can blame me for slowness this time (I have been procrastinating, homework is evil EVIL I TELL YOU) but you all know that. I'm almost done with my Antithean web site. It isn't up yet but I will tell you all when it is. It will be really cool. I kind of think of it as kind of a director's commentary on a DVD. I have pictures of the important characters that I have drawn, and explanations of different parts of Antithean culture. If any of you have any questions about my story ask me in your review or email me (dnairos@hotmail.com) that email addy is for Fanfiction.net so don't think that it would be an intrusion if you emailed me on it. Now on to my thanks
Jarka Ruus: Yup I run X-Country. I'm a masochist, that's the only way I can explain why I enjoy it. But I'm a happy Masochist because I was just elected team captain for next year **happy dance** We run 3.1 miles (5k).
Galenbrethil: I'm glad you like it. You have no idea how happy that makes me.
Ibetinomrthnu: Wow long complicated name. See I didn't take another 3 months to update. I'm keeping the Neal card back for a while though. But the other thing does happen.
Cytosine: Are you proud I updated again and this time it isn't finally.
M'cha: I'm so glad that you read and reviewed my new chappie one. I hate Fido too, he is annoying. I'm glad you liked the new chap 1 better than the old one. Definitely my original first chappie was a little over the top, and really had to go.
Eve of Mirkwood: I love Tobit. He, I think, is my best character. Though I'm also rather fond of Falkin **looks around** does anyone else like him?
Ivy Dragon: I'm glad you didn't give up hope. I'm sorry about my grammatical errors **blushes** I did read it over, but commas sometimes elude me, pesky things. I read this one over pretty carefully. Let's see if it made a difference.
Keziah: Is it a bigger shock that I updated again so soon? I'm glad that this is on your favorites. We shall all see about the Jasson thing. I know though (I personally really like the ending that I have thought up).
Exrooooommmmmiiiiieeeee: Everything is explained now, call me over Thanksgiving. Miss you.
Chapter XXIII: Brawling Love
George shut the door, and looked at the slight frame before him. She wasn't tall but she wasn't short, her long black hair fell around her to her thighs. She was very beautiful, and very cold. Her eyes met his and he looked away. She was not what he expected. He grasped at the one concrete thing he knew. She was Neal's squire. Neal loved her as he would his sister.
"What do you want of me?" she said, her words were hard and sharp.
"You know my wife," he replied. Zira looked at him more closely. So this was the famous baron of Pirate's Swoop. Alanna loved him, so she decided not to.
"No, I do not know your wife."
"Do you know what you are doing to her? You're tearing her apart. Why do you hate her?"
Zira took sick satisfaction in her reply. She did not like the feeling.
"Good." George stared at the hard young woman.
"What did she ever do to you to be worthy of that reply?" he said, looking at her with disgust.
"Why don't you ask her? She would probably take great pride in her reply." Zira met his eyes coldly, evenly, calmly.
"She doesn't know what she did to you. She doesn't understand your hatred. She wanted to accept you to help you, in the ways she couldn't help Kel. Nothing she did to you could not possibly have hurt you as much as your hatred has hurt her."
Zira trembled, trying to keep her anger under control. George saw boiling under the skin, and he was actually afraid. He was afraid of this delicate girl before him.
"Oh," she said her voice dangerously quiet. "Does she really want to know why I hate her? I bet she didn't know that I was watching. I was nine, and I saw. I was in the tower with my father, above the battle. It was all spread out beneath me. I could see my mother. She was standing over my brother. He had been wounded earlier in the fight. Mama was protecting him. She had lost her helmet. She was on foot. Your wife was on horseback. She killed her. While both her children were watching. Abi staggered to his feet to protect her. Your wife killed him too. He was only 18. He had so much life, fire in him. He would have done so much good. Your wife took away half my family while I watched and could do nothing. I cannot believe that I have hurt her as much as she me."
"My wife is a soldier. She is required to kill, and to protect her country. You cannot take personally those who were killed in a war," George replied gently.
"But I do. Every Antithean who died in that war was a part of me, but my mother and my brother, they weren't just part. They were all of me. No Tortallian lost everything in that war. When they returned, they had their families, their homes, their lives. Many did not survive, but once they returned to Tortall, they had food, and shelter. Tortall left Antitheos with nothing but the people, and they didn't even leave many of them. Your wife left me with only my father, and your king took me away from even him."
"It was the Antitheans' fault. Do you think that Tortall wanted another war."
"It was our fault?! We were only reclaiming what was ours. What we had lent to other countries when they needed It. Before Abi tried to steal It we had sent a request to your king. He refused. Abi was doing what was right for his country."
"So was my wife."
"I cannot forgive her."
"You have forgiven others. Falkin, Neal, Tobit, Jasson, Thayet. Why are they easier to forgive?"
"They have already paid their Blood Debt. Falkin lost his brother, Tobit his sister, Neal healed the captured Antitheans, and Jasson. He was kind to me, as was Thayet. I cannot forgive the one I saw kill my family though. Just as I cannot forgive the one who killed my country."
George looked at her. There were tears on the brims of her eyes threatening to overflow, but she was stiff, and cold. He shook his head.
"You are a selfish girl."
"That maybe but since when has being told that you are selfish ever stopped it." George turned and strode out of the room. On top of everything this was too much. She threw herself onto the bed, and began to sob.
~*~
Falkin rode behind Kiké, taking in the dreary surroundings. He was uneasy. He loosened his sword from his scabbard. Kiké turned and looked at him.
"Places hide," he said in shaky Antithean, gesturing at the trees. "I ready." Kiké nodded and pulled her knife out of her boot, so that he could see that she, also, was prepared. The dry woods were silent. The Falkin moved. His arm drew his sword and he whirled his mount around. He faced a young girl of eleven or twelve with a crossbow drawn back. She was aiming it at Falkin's head.
"You!" she said in heavily accented Common. "you not Antithean. Come with me." Falkin sheathed his sword and dismounted slowly. Kiké turned to the girl, and asked her something in Antithean. The girl nodded and Kiké dismounted as well. They started walking. Falkin tried to ask Kiké what was going on, but the girl glared at him and said, "Quiet!" They proceeded in silence.
When they reached the edge of the woods Falkin stared, spread out before him was a great city. It was burned. His brown eyes traveled from the once graceful arches of the gates, to the great onion domes collapsing under their own weight, their infrastructures burned. It was a dismal sight.
"Nothing will grow here," he thought looking a the bare rock which by now should have been covered with vines. It was stark, and cruel; nothing hid the naked destruction. "It is cursed. No the drought. Nothing is growing anywhere here. This place is no different from the rest of Antitheos." All the same Falkin shivered. The young girl stood next to him.
"Your people did this," she said and spat. Falkin looked down at the city and cursed his country, and for the first time in his life his own brother. He had always thought of him as separate from the wars. It had been easier that way; he could love Zira and his brother. The two loves fought within him now. Then he remembered what his brother had said to him.
"Love, Falkin, all other things will destroy you, but love will not." Falkin began to walk again. Glassy eyed from unshed tears. They avoided the burnt walls of the ghost city, beyond them he saw a crude city, of tents and stones. They were heading to this place. Falkin looked a Kiké, her mouth was firm, and he saw anger in her eyes. For the first time he realized that she must have been the same age as the girl who was leading them when the war broke out. The other time that he had been to Antitheos, he had stuck to the main roads, and had spent much of his time in the capital. He hadn't seen much of the true destruction.
The group approached the wall of the new city. The girl called up to the watchtower, and the gate opened slowly. They entered the encampment, and the door closed behind them.
~*~
Jonathan looked at the Jewel, it was almost perfect, his fingers sought out the rough spot on the smooth surface. He wondered, as he often did these days, if this piece of rock was worth all the blood shed over it. Of course it was. It was the trump card that Tortall always held, but still the King sighed. He was getting older, and had hardly ever seen a time without war. He just wanted peace. He ran his fingers through his greying hair. He carefully replaced the Jewel into its case. He hated it; it shone too brightly, oblivious to the deaths it had caused. He picked it up in his trembling hands again. For a moment it blinked in his eyes then he hurled it against the stone walls of the room.
"Gary, Raoul," he whispered. He bowed his head so he wouldn't see the Jewel shining as brightly as ever where it had landed.
~*~
King Lari tossed and turned and turned in his bed. His golden skin was almost transparent from the fever, and his amber eyes were large and owl-like in his hollow face. The healers were at a loss. They knew that he couldn't keep up the fight. They must send for Zira. The king must see his daughter before he died. She must take her place as queen.